Hi,
Another thing that it might be worth looking into is networking (meeting people in the industry). I keep getting told this is the most effective means and I'll have to look into it once I've finished my degree.
There are Java Users Groups (JUG), for instance, where anyone who uses Java is welcome to attend. They do presentations and then have beer and pizza afterwards. If you have something interesting you have worked on you can do a presentation if you want to. You can then meet and talk to people who work in the industry and who knows what might come up.
The JUG is just an example, but they do seem to have a group in a lot of capital cities. (http://www.ajug.org/ for Atlanta).
Good luck!
-Rob
how to get a job in programming
Unluckily for you, every other computing graduate who has just graduated a few months ago and has no experience is looking for jobs just now as well. the market isn't too bad though, and things always go slower in winter. theres always jobs around, you just have to cast your net wide enough.
if you're getting no response at all, you may be presenting yourself badly on your CV & covering note. scan the internet for pages offering job application advice and interview technique advice (they always cover CV as well - which you could probably do with advice on). you should be highlighting your strengths and glossing over / ignoring your weaknesses. this isn't being dishonest, its selling yourself, and everyone else you're up against will do it. remember that with a computing degree you have a good-deal more education and *proven* ability than many others and have an acredited high level of competency. in the covering note always point out explicitly why you'd be 'particularly suitable' for a role, and why you're 'particularly excited' about the prospect of doing it.
no-where will expect you to be a good programmer, they're well aware that you have no practical experience, and thats the understanding they'll take you on with, and thats why you'll earn an entry-level wage. They'll be hoping that you'll be giving them value for money in a few months time and will be a real asset within a year.
dont forget that every programmer strarted out at the same point you're at now with no work-experience. keep trying and you'll get there.
be sure to apply to about 20 jobs at once, thats standard.
its probably for you personally worth going for the big companies, a big company would be the fastest way to build up contacts, and usually provide very good general training. small companies can often not have the resources or even understanding to train a newcomer up effectively, however talented that person may be.
if you're getting no response at all, you may be presenting yourself badly on your CV & covering note. scan the internet for pages offering job application advice and interview technique advice (they always cover CV as well - which you could probably do with advice on). you should be highlighting your strengths and glossing over / ignoring your weaknesses. this isn't being dishonest, its selling yourself, and everyone else you're up against will do it. remember that with a computing degree you have a good-deal more education and *proven* ability than many others and have an acredited high level of competency. in the covering note always point out explicitly why you'd be 'particularly suitable' for a role, and why you're 'particularly excited' about the prospect of doing it.
no-where will expect you to be a good programmer, they're well aware that you have no practical experience, and thats the understanding they'll take you on with, and thats why you'll earn an entry-level wage. They'll be hoping that you'll be giving them value for money in a few months time and will be a real asset within a year.
dont forget that every programmer strarted out at the same point you're at now with no work-experience. keep trying and you'll get there.
be sure to apply to about 20 jobs at once, thats standard.
its probably for you personally worth going for the big companies, a big company would be the fastest way to build up contacts, and usually provide very good general training. small companies can often not have the resources or even understanding to train a newcomer up effectively, however talented that person may be.
In my experience it's not nearly as bad as some people seem to be making it out to be. I guess it's different per individual and location though.
I recently graduated Fullsail, and I'm now working at a sim/game company about a month later. I started sending out resumes and stuff 2 months prior to graduation, took quite a few tests, did quite a few phone interviews, a few on-site interviews, and finally landed one. Maybe the fact that Fullsail graduates have game projects to show might put them a bit above the rest in the entry level category. Once I took the job I have now I'm still having to turn down requests for more interviews from the resumes I sent out.
I think the best advice I can give is to make sure your resume lists some sort of experience, even if it's not on a commercially shipped game. A mod, or a game project, graphics demo, AI demo, whatever. I'm convinced that the game projects we did for school were probably the main reason I got so many replies.
The bottom line is this, and it applies to all schools. If you do the bare minimum to get your degree, you're going to have a hard time getting a job, and frankly you don't really deserve one. I've seen this alot from Fullsail grads as well as non Fullsail grads. The piece of paper you get at the end for your degree is a small part of what it takes to get an employer interested in you.
I recently graduated Fullsail, and I'm now working at a sim/game company about a month later. I started sending out resumes and stuff 2 months prior to graduation, took quite a few tests, did quite a few phone interviews, a few on-site interviews, and finally landed one. Maybe the fact that Fullsail graduates have game projects to show might put them a bit above the rest in the entry level category. Once I took the job I have now I'm still having to turn down requests for more interviews from the resumes I sent out.
I think the best advice I can give is to make sure your resume lists some sort of experience, even if it's not on a commercially shipped game. A mod, or a game project, graphics demo, AI demo, whatever. I'm convinced that the game projects we did for school were probably the main reason I got so many replies.
The bottom line is this, and it applies to all schools. If you do the bare minimum to get your degree, you're going to have a hard time getting a job, and frankly you don't really deserve one. I've seen this alot from Fullsail grads as well as non Fullsail grads. The piece of paper you get at the end for your degree is a small part of what it takes to get an employer interested in you.
Quote:Original post by lucinpub
on topic:
Where do all of you that are having a hard time live?
I graduated from Boston University, but I live in Hawaii.
Looking back, I probably should have gone to school in California because that sounds like it's got more opportunities, and also because i hated the weather in Boston :)
I got a little bit of encouraging news today, I learned one of my classmates just landed a job with Boeing so I went to their website and applied to a bunch of jobs.
While I admit, I had fun in college and probably could have done better than I did, I'm nowhere near as bad as the UNLV guys who couldn't even tell what a class or destructor is :)
It is pretty funny though, this summer i'm probably learning more about programming than i did in my senior year, including the 700 level graduate software design class i took to meet my technical elective requirement. There, the proffeser's idea of lecturing was spending the first 45 minutes ranting about how open source is doomed to fail and the only way to go is with microsoft.
although i had a few good classes where i learned a lot. I think my favorite one was a class about algorithms. we definitely learned a lot, and the assignments were actually pretty interesting. i dunno if i'm a real algorithms person though, whoever came up with some of those crazy algorithms has got to be a genius :)
although, one of the things the professor said is that most problems can be broken down into a series of steps which can be solved using existing algorithms.
I'm only in my second year majoring in Computer Science, but I was lucky enough to be recommended by a close friend for a web development job at my state's department of revenue at the end of my first year. It's a pretty sweet job. The first few weeks I was there I worked my butt off and blew my supervisors mind of what I could do. I'd do the occasional maintence, but we have another student worker who does all that now. Now I'm working on simplifying the amount of maintence we have to do and various intranet layouts.
I'd say I'm more than likely locked in for real employee status there once I'm out of college, if not sooner. My friend who previously worked there landed a much higher paying job at another state agency. Although, my job doesn't pay bad either. Oh and did I mention this was my first real job in my life? Got it with basically no references or previous professional experience.
Anyways, to my point. I definately think an intership or state student job is a big plus. I'd suggest doing some freelance work to build up a beefy resume. Good luck.
I'd say I'm more than likely locked in for real employee status there once I'm out of college, if not sooner. My friend who previously worked there landed a much higher paying job at another state agency. Although, my job doesn't pay bad either. Oh and did I mention this was my first real job in my life? Got it with basically no references or previous professional experience.
Anyways, to my point. I definately think an intership or state student job is a big plus. I'd suggest doing some freelance work to build up a beefy resume. Good luck.
Ok I know what is going on here I have been out of school for 18 months already with a degree in computer science. However i have noticed that where i live the degree and even internships don't work. For example a friend of mine who did 3 years of intering in college was denied a position because he was told that his expierence was in a controlled environment and doesn't transfer over to the industry. I have had 3 contract positions in those 18 months but still nothing full time yet. I know about 8 or 9 languages including C/C++ Java COBOL to name a few. However i am in a state that if a certain person gets reelected a linch mob will form (for those of you that don't know thats ohio).
yeah, it will be much easier to find a job in a tech heavy area, california, washington, parts of texas etc. I know that hawaii is bad, because I was thinking of moving there after graduation, but there almost no software jobs there...
Quote:Original post by lucinpubI can guarantee most people answering this thread took 'being presentable at the interview' as a given.
Lastly, make sure to take a shower, shave, get a haircut, put on some deodorant and wear nice, clean clothes. Not a tee-shirt and holey jeans, but a nice shirt with buttons and some slacks with nice shoes, not your sneakers or sandals or doc martin boots. Seriously, it makes a huge difference.
It may depend on where you live, but in New York, New England, or Britain anything less than a suit and tie is a waste of everyone's time. There are exceptions, I am sure.
Quote:For example a friend of mine who did 3 years of intering in college was denied a position because he was told that his expierence was in a controlled environment and doesn't transfer over to the industry.Is your friend applying to entry level jobs? If he is, then that experience will be on top of everyone elses. The employers were correct to favour someone with three years of actual experience if they were asking for three years of experience.
Quote:Original post by flangazor
I can guarantee most people answering this thread took 'being presentable at the interview' as a given.
Then you should see the people I have been helping interview the last couple of weeks.
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